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David, You Shouldn’t Have

I think it’s pretty much a given now that every other

Hunger Games fandom member thinks that David O. Russell is a special kind of person. And that special kind of person is most likely spelled A.S.S.H.O.L.E. But (oh yeah there’s a but, maybe even a butt as well), isn’t that certain kind of quality in a person kind of needed every now and again? Assholes get things done, yep– just like bitches tend to get things done. We may not like ’em as people, but the fruits of their asshole-y/bitchy nature are sometimes our most favoritest things. We just kind of wish we didn’t have to know about their true nature, am I right?

Yeah, hi, I’m taking a different tack on the whole, “David O. Russell compared Jennifer Lawrence’s working on The Hunger Games franchise to the film 12 Years A Slave… he’s horrible person, he must die now, slowly and painfully!” I don’t think so guys, like at all– yes, I think he was in the wrong, but when I read his comments initially, I was probably not as offended as everyone else. Maybe I’m just a wholly insensitive person, or maybe I’m the following kind of person– the kind that complains mercilessly to her friends about work, barely focuses on the good points, and thus my friends think my work life sucks– which sometimes it does. I assume with a modicum of knowledge of the personal lives of David O. Russell and Jennifer Lawrence, that they are in fact friends as well as colleagues; and therefore I also assume that sometimes their communication takes the form of run-on sentences received through text message, snip-it voice conversations between writing sessions and planning meetings for him, and breaks between shots, makeup applications, and long van rides to locations for her. Their lives are being shared, and through the

You should go see 12 Years A Slave, because maybe David O. Russell hasn’t

sometimes cold, hard, tools of today’s technology, the sharing is quick, shrewd, and laced with the dirty sometimes very unpleasant truths of their working lives. Sure Jennifer Lawrence is being paid a butt load of money, and by butt load I mean millions, sure she’s one of the most coveted and successful actresses to come out of seemingly the woodwork in five years, if that Oscar, that Golden Globe, and those box office numbers don’t prove that I don’t know what will. However, after all that is said and done– none of it doesn’t mean that sometimes her work days suck, fucking ass.

Comparing working for millions of dollars, and being in one of the most successful film franchises of the decade to slavery, was wrong. I think I needed to state that, however what I’m getting as here is this, maybe all the knowledge O. Russell has of her work life on the franchise is negative? Money aside, success aside, physical exhaustion, medical issues, a multitude of bad hair days, having her privacy revoked, these are not fun, happy, totally awesome things. Did she sign up for it? Kind of. Should he not have said those things? You bet your bippy! Am I kind of glad he did though? Yeah. Why? Because it beats hearing about Justin Bieber. What maybe, kinda, sorta offended and shocked me somewhat equally? The expletives, the calls to um well— forms of rape, and the down right naughty things I saw people saying at or to David O. Russell. And he heard you– that’s why he apologized, although many don’t think it was sincere, like at all. Was it really poor timing on his part bringing this can of worms out in the open right smack in the middle of the awards season? Uh huh.

Bottom line: Jennifer Lawrence is going to have a really interesting next few weeks thanks to David O. Russell, and also to David O. Russell– ’cause in my head there are two of him.

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9 comments

Well, I guess comparing situations to “12 Years a Slave” has been a bit of a thing lately, since it’s kind of “catchy”, joke-ready title. I even saw a comic strip that used it to joke about WalMart employees.

What bothered me most about his comments was the hypocritical nature of what he said. He said the Hunger Games franchise worked her too hard and they should give her some breathing room. But he was the one who convinced her to use her vacation time to make American Hustle. It bothers me that no one is calling him on that. He is just as much of a hamster wheel as any other.

Personally, I can’t agree with you. He comes across as kind of obsessed with Jen and considering he’s gone after directors for “stealing” an actor from him, he must have insane jealousy issues regarding Jen being on the Mockingjay set for almost a full year, delaying production of “Ends of the Earth”. Yes, THG is exhaustive, but she also talks about how much she loves it. I’m sure she’s had some private complaints during particularly busy time frames, but for him to then say something to the media about it is a total misappropriation of trust and a real asshole move.

Also, he apologized for the slave reference, not for betraying Jen’s trust or blasting the studio. And it was totally disingenuous hahaha

I think this subject is a can of worms so I merely going to point out that he won’t direct Ends of the Earth. It was just a rumor with reliable-looking sources that ~accidentally~ started circulating around last year’s award season, but since then he personally denied his involvement. If he’s upset about Jen’s schedule, it’s merely because she can’t be there doing the whole awards circuit and campaigning this time around, and he’s stuck with stars like Amy Adams and Bradley Cooper to charm the voters and audiences for him (poor guy…)

Haha okay! You’re right, I totally missed that bit about Ends of the Earth. It probably does have to do more with promotion and the awards circuit since the studio has the final say with what Jen can and can’t attend during filming (though this is true of all actors).

I agree with Carrie and Kait. I’ll leave the ridiculous and insensitive slavery analogy out of this since he has apologized, but even with that out of the way the rest of what he said annoys me.

As Carrie mentioned, he pushed her to do American Hustle instead of taking a vacation (oh but as DOR says his movies are a “creative vacation” so he thinks that’s ok). And yes, she spent much of last Jan-Feb dealing with sickness… while heavily doing the promo circuit for his movie. It’s clear that Jennifer has been working really hard for the past several years. But his pretentiousness to think that his films are above it all pisses me off.

now, i’m not part of the colorfully-swearing hordes that are demanding his head on a platter, but i do feel upset about his comments and i feel i’ve got a valid reason for feeling that way.

i’m sure jen has probably complained about her schedule to him and plenty other people before. we all do it. just because she gets paid gajillions of dollars to spend 6 months of the year filming doesn’t mean her workdays are a walk in the part. i’m also sure it’s stifling for the more indie types to think that lionsgate basically controls her life for the next four years after she signed that contract.

my main issue with it (besides the slavery comparison which was just so dumb and makes it obvious he hasn’t even seen 12 years a slave), is that it’s simply NOT HIS PROBLEM AT ALL. sure, a person is allowed to complain about their job even if they love it, and their friends have the moral obligation to nod emphatically and mutter “those bastards!” when required. but that is something that happens BETWEEN FRIENDS. no friend of mine would go and blurt out all the complaints i’ve shot out about my job when my boss is within hearing range. that’s just stupid, and childish, and you know what that would get me? fired.

lionsgate is obviously never ever going to fire jennifer lawrence under any circumstance, but it’s just DOR’s presumption that he can say these things about lionsgate. EVEN if jen told him she felt LG was running her ragged, that does not give DOR the right to repeat any of that or insert his own comments on the topic TO THE PRESS. not only does it make jen look bad, but it makes him seem so pretentious, like he thinks big franchises are inherently less worthy than his own work.

and, like the other commenters mentioned above, the hypocrisy of it. sure, lionsgate is taking up all of her time but somehow she managed to film and promote not one, but TWO of his own movies in-between– one of them during what was supposed to be her vacation time, at that.

also, his apology was about the slavery comparison, not about lionsgate. clearly he maintains his opinion that they are pushing jennifer too hard and feels it’s his right to speak about this to the media.

all of that said, though… i do agree with the conclusion. beats the dumb justin bieber drama. and it was probably less poor timing than simply a calculated risk– after all, it’s awards season and any publicity is good publicity right now for him and his film. maybe he’s smarter than we’re giving him credit for. who knows. but even if he is, that doesn’t mean i have to like him.

Aside from the offensive and insensitive comment about slavery, he also seriously dissed THG. He said it wasn’t artistic and Jen took on AH as a kind of ‘creative vacation’. Also this isn’t the first time he said negative comments about the franchise. A few weeks ago in one of the festivals, I think it was the one in Las Vegas, he called the Mockingjay set a ‘sweatshop’ and he has also previously said that THG is just a hamster wheel franchise turning out repetitive mindless products. I’m sorry but Catching Fire was a million times more thought-provoking than his silly con-movie.

Rebekah, looks like your opinion is a bit on the unpopular side round these parts. But I’m pretty much with you. Because, frankly, I couldn’t give less of a crap about any of it. It’s totally irrelevant to my enjoyment of both the HG movies and David’s movies. Doesn’t matter, Hakunah Matata. Now, on to happier things. You guys hear that (so far) Crazy Cat made it into Mockingjay Part 1? 😀